Leadership program showcased at Macon's Carter Elementary

In the first year of a new program, Sonny Carter Elementary School teachers and administrators are seeing leadership skills bleed into various aspects of school life.

"The Leader in Me," a program based on the book "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey, began at Carter and Burdell-Hunt Elementary School in August, and Carter held a Leadership Day to showcase the program Friday.

"Our mission as a school is to build students who are confident leaders who then make an impact on their community," said Amanda Marsh, the school's academic coach.

Marsh also heads up Carter's staff Lighthouse Team, which spearheads "Leader in Me" efforts and committees at the school. The team meets every Tuesday morning to discuss major goals and also receives "booster shots" in the form of videos or live demonstrations of innovative classroom lessons.

"Just so that our work doesn't get stagnant, that we continue to stay motivated," first-grade teacher Ronna DeMichiel said.

DeMichiel heads up the environment team for the program, tasked with improving the facility and grounds to better inspire leadership efforts. That includes murals throughout the school devoted to the seven habits -- be proactive; begin with the end in mind; put first things first; think win-win; seek first to understand, then to be understood; synergize; and sharpen the saw, or take care of yourself.

"The actual building and our environment has been transformed," DeMichiel said.

The program also involves a student Lighthouse team, with representatives from each grade. Marsh said those students helped pull Friday's event together and often serve as a sounding board for ideas that will affect the student body.

Earlier this year, the students expressed the desire to learn sign language because there is a hearing-impaired student on campus.

"So now we have a sign language club because students wanted it," Marsh said.

Clubs are an outlet for student leadership, Marsh added, and each of the school's clubs was represented at the event. Student Lisa Patel provided visitors with information about the school's CHAMPS club, which teaches about safety, including gang and crime prevention strategies.

She illustrated leadership using the metaphor of a mother duck leading her ducklings away from danger.

"Same thing with a leader," she said. "A leader makes good choices."

Those lessons also have helped students in the classroom. Third-grade teacher Jessica Brown said her students have connected the seven habits from the program to historical figures on their own, cutting down on how much time she has to spend talking in front of the class.

"With everyone that we've talked about .. they tell me, 'Oh, that's how they were being proactive,'" Brown said.

Further, the habits have helped with classroom behavior.

"They have learned how to settle disagreements between themselves, which is good," she said.

In the end, that is the goal of the program. Marsh said every student might not get into a leadership position for a group or in a career, but the skills acquired will help nonetheless.

"Everyone is a leader of themselves, but we want them to share that with others," she said.

To contact writer Jeremy Timmerman, call 744-4331 or find him on Twitter@MTJTimm.

This story was originally published March 25, 2016 at 2:03 PM with the headline "Leadership program showcased at Macon's Carter Elementary ."